Ultraviolet (UV) light is a form of light that is invisible to the human eye. It resides on the electromagnetic spectrum between X-rays and visible light, having wavelengths roughly between 200 and 300 nanometers. One beneficial property of UV light is its ability to inactivate microorganisms, such as bacteria. When bacteria are exposed to UV light, they are rendered incapable of reproducing. This has led to a widespread adoption of UV light as a safe, effective disinfectant.
The market has seen recent attempts to capitalize on the disinfecting properties of UV light. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,357,914 discloses a disinfecting apparatus having a housing, a UV light, and a dispensing mechanism. The housing is designed to receive contaminated pens, immersing the pens in UV light, and then dispensing disinfected pens.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,339,576 discloses a personal electronic device (PED) sanitization device comprising a compartment configured to receive a plurality of PEDs and one or more emitters configured to emit electron-optical (EO) radiation, such as UV light, to disinfect the PED.